Sweet and Sour
by Fleeting Illicit Delicious
Summary: Life is a lot of things. Maybe comparing it to a take-out order of sweet and sour pork would be oversimplifying things, but then again Honda has always been a simple man. Honda-centric. HondaxOtogi. Contest Entry


Disclaimer: Kazuki Takahashi owns Yugioh and I don't.

A/N: To me Honda is one of the most mature characters in the series. Sure he has his childish moments, but he pretty much has it all together. Or at least, he's the best at making people believe that he does.

For the contest. Round 2 Season 7

-

**Sweet and Sour**

At any other time the air would have been sickeningly sweet if not for that one moment in childhood, when fed on dreams of Candyland, the whole world seemed edible and at that delicious.

Honda Hiroto was seven years old and scouring the ground for insects to add to his collection. He had begged his parents to come to the arboretum in his quest to show up the local bully on whose insect collection was the best. Even in the heady month of May, with stains of rotting fruit painting his trousers, he refused to take a break until he found the shiny critters he was looking for.

"Caught one yet?" His sister came up to him and asked. She was a whole year and a half older than him; enough to make her something like a goddess in his eyes.

"No."

"Daddy and Mama are going for a walk by the azaleas. If you ask me they're showing way too much PDA in public."

He kept his focus on the ground, on the bushes and tree trunks. "What do you mean, PDA?"

"It's when you do grown up stuff. Like go for walks together and hold hands and stuff."

"What's wrong with that? We always do that." He thought he saw something scurry under that leaf. He was very still.

"But it's gross between two adults! Kids should be the only ones allowed to do those kinds of things. Don't grow up, kay? Here, I'll promise too." She held out her pinky and he took it, carefully controlling his movements the whole time.

"Good." His sister nodded and released her grip. He took the same pinky and gently shook the leaf.

"Mama says we can go out for ice cream after this."

But his eyes were on his prize.

-

He was twelve and comparing how the sky in Domino looked different from the one in his old hometown.

Everyone seemed happy about the move. His father had a better job, his mother could shop more and his sister was making new friends.

But something just felt empty about it. It was that prevailing nothingness that had made him pack the boxes from his old room deep in his closet. It made him clean his room at least three times a week, even without his mother's prompting. He even blamed it for the weird aches and pains that plagued his body at night.

He had imagined Domino being filled with stuff, but lying in his empty backyard, he knew better than to fool himself on sugary sweet thoughts.

Right now the empty sky seemed like something that could crush him if it wanted to.

As he lay in the grass he heard footsteps approach him. He didn't need to see who it was.

"Hiroto. You've gotta come see this." His sister's smiling face blocked out the sky and the emptiness.

"Huh?" He was quick to get up just as a puppy ran up to him and slobbered him with sweet kisses.

"Isn't she cute! Dad got her! He said he'd get us a dog if we ever got a bigger house! Don't you remember that?"

He tried to place the memory, but then abandoned it in favor of the little dog in his arms.

"And the best part is Mama says we can keep her."

-

He was fifteen and running like hell.

Bullies these days wouldn't concede to you if you showed them a stag beetle. Let alone if you just converted one of their members to the 'good side.'

"Shit, we're surrounded," Jounouchi cursed. It had taken a lot of effort to convince Jounouchi to take the entrance exams to the same highschool Honda was going to. Eventually he got through to him, even made him quit the gang he was in. But he could never clean his friend's dirty mouth.

"I'll take the left," Honda offered, balling his fists.

"Good idea."

He split up from his friend, ready to take whatever blows it took to get them off his case- and maybe land a few too.

But when he saw that the whole gang had followed him his stomach flipped and he nearly felt like running. But no. This was a test of his manhood. If Jounouchi had abandoned him at this moment, then so be it! He'd teach this gang, just like he showed up that bully in elementary school with his bug collection. No beetles here but maybe a slug would work.

The gang closed in on him and he readied his stance. Just as his fist connected with someone's cheek he heard a shout from behind.

"You bastards! Thought you could take us on one by one didja? Well, me and Honda work as a team."

Jounouchi attacked from the outside of the group, and with him landing as many hits as he could on the inside, it was only a matter of time before the gang went off in separate directions.

"You're dead Jounouchi! Your friend too!" One of them shouted as he ran away with a black eye. Honda was happy to escape with a broken lip.

"Yeah, tell it to my ass," his friend said, making a lewd pose but as soon as they were out of site, Jonouchi sunk to his knees, breathing hard.

"You alright?" Honda asked.

"Yeah. Just relieved. I never thought I'd be able to get rid of them."

He didn't respond, just looked on at his friend's face, a mix of disbelief and content. Honda leant against a wall, catching his own breath. He was thinking of how to explain his bruises to his mother.

"Wanna go get something to eat?" Jounouchi asked finally.

"Sure."

It was a wonderful two hours eating and playing arcade games with Jounouchi. Honda knew he couldn't wipe the grin off his face if he wanted to. He felt he could take on the world with his middle school mentality and the cut lip were there to prove it. If not the world, then maybe that new alien shooting game. Finally, Domino wasn't just a place he lived in, but somewhere he wanted to stay.

But, when he arrived home, he was immersed in a very different world. One of whispers heard behind closed kitchen doors.

"Mama, it'll be alright. I promise. I can handle it."

"I can't believe… a daughter of mine."

"Just please. I can handle it."

"What will your father think?"

"I'll tell him. I'm ready for this."

"I never know when the man comes home anymore."

He pushed open the door. His sister sat in a hunched position, tears dotting her eyes. His mother sat across from her, her expression unreadable.

"I'm home," he whispered. The air was rank with a sour feeling he didn't like.

His mother mechanically stood up and greeted him.

"So my son is home. Do you want something to eat?" She turned to search through the cupboards as his sister made a fast retreat.

"Mom?"

"Ah, don't mind that. It wasn't anything." She slammed a plastic bowl on the counter and started dumping chips into it.

"Eat this. You must be hungry." He obeyed her, keeping his face from her view and burying himself in the snack.

The rest of the night was a blur and he noticed that his sister didn't come down once. As he lay in bed he heard a knocking on the door and answered. His sister stood there.

"Hiroto, there's something I need to tell you. Will you listen?"

-

At sixteen, he was glad he had said yes to his sister's question.

He took out the baby food from the refrigerator. "Open wide."

"No way. Get me one of those sexy new mothers and let me suck on those sweet-"

"Enough Jouji!" Okay. So the kid was damn annoying, but he was glad anyway.

"I'm just saying."

His mother walked in the room then, dressed in her working best. She looked at the two of them and scowled.

"Where is your sister? Shouldn't she be doing that?"

He made to answer, but his mother took the spoon out of his hand. "Honestly, Hiroto. This is how you do it," she said, her voice changing to a sweet tone, "okay, Jouji! Open wide."

Funny, the kid never made any perverted things around her or people older than himself. Sometimes he felt like he was hearing things.

Jouji giggled.

"Go to school Hiroto. You'll be late." His mother reminded him, engrossed in feeding her grandson. It was the first time he had seen his mother relaxed in a long while. Ever since that day when he had overheard his sister and mother there had been a rift gently widening in their household.

His mother had felt like she had lost the respectability of the neighborhood with having an unmarried daughter. His sister felt like she was constantly up against a woman who she could no longer identify as her mother, or at least that was what they had confided in him whenever he was there to lend a spare ear. Or shoulder. Or anything he could do. There weren't many options.

Still, he was better than his father, who seemed to turn a blind eye to everything.

Jouji coughed.

His mother had slipped a cigarette to her mouth.

"Mom. Since when do you smoke?"

"You'll be late. Go." Her tone was still playful.

"Well you shouldn't smoke around a baby, at least." But he was out of the kitchen before he could get any kind of answer. Outside the sky looked empty, but he was glad for that.

He wondered if Yuugi was getting into any kind of trouble with saving the world. Those things were much easier than dealing with family problems and he could vouch for that.

-

He was eighteen and having the last school lunch he'd ever have to eat. Granted, he liked school lunch most of the time, and in addition to sitting around friends, the whole mood was rather nostalgic.

Even Otogi sat down with them.

"You brought your own lunch?" Honda asked, eyeing the box that Otogi had just set down in front of him. At least he could have enjoyed the last the school had to offer him.

"Yep. Sweet and sour pork. You want some?"

"No."

"Then why do you sound so surprised?"

"It just doesn't seem right."

"What is_ that_ supposed to mean?"

"Honda's got a point," Jounouchi piped in, "we're supposed to be having our last lunch of our entire school life. It symbolizes our dedication to get this far and you up and bring your own lunch?"

"What?" Otogi asked, munching on the pork. "Can't my food symbolize something too? Like the sweet and sour moments of our lives up to this point?"

"I guess so…" Jounouchi replied dejectedly.

Honda could tell Otogi was just trying to defend his rebellious attitude on such a simple thing like school lunch, but it didn't really matter to him.

He had been wondering, while everyone else was reminiscing about school and Duel Monsters, about the sweet and sour moments of his life. As much as he'd been happy at those times when his friends had won a duel, thus saving their lives or someone else's', he couldn't really think of those moments as significant to his own life.

Instead he had humbler memories.

Sweet. Beating that bully in elementary school.

Sour. Moving to Domino.

Sweet. Giving Jounouchi pointers in acing his exam.

Sour. His mother and sister's arguments.

Sweet. Seeing his mother play with Jouji.

Sour. His sister's tears as she left in the morning for work, with his mother adding scathing words the whole time.

Sweet. Sitting with his friends on the last day of school.

Sour. Saying goodbye to them.

"And why are you zoning out all of a sudden?" Otogi prodded him.

Sweet. Hanging out with Shizuka.

Sour. Having to contend with Otogi.

Sweet. Shizuka refusing Otogi.

Sour. Because she was going out with someone else who wasn't Honda.

"You alright Honda-kun?" Yuugi asked.

"Yeah. Just remembering stuff."

He smiled.

The rest of the day blurred by. He supposed that most kids didn't remember their last day of school, especially when they were eagerly anticipating it to be over so they could get on with their lives.

He was about to head home when Yuugi suggested that all of them hang out at the game shop as a final get together as high school students. That was a great idea but one card game between Jounouchi and Yuugi turned into three or four, and with Anzu trying to get Bakura to sing a round of karaoke, he found the only person he could talk to was Otogi.

He launched into a casual conversation. "You know, about that sweet and sour pork thing. I guess you're right. There've been a lot of moments in my life like that."

"Oh really?" Came the smirk, but Honda was too smart already to let it bother him.

"Yeah."

"I didn't mean to sound stuck up or anything. I guess… my life has kind of been a rollercoaster in and of itself actually, with or without your friends' crazy adventures." Otogi stared off into the distance, which wasn't very much considering the size of Yuugi's living room, but Honda could tell he was doing some reminiscing of his own.

"Yeah, tell me about it." He relaxed himself and took a deep breath. He wasn't sure when he had last taken it easy for a change, especially in his own home.

"So you ready to graduate tomorrow?"

"I wouldn't have wasted my time going to school if I wasn't." He chuckled. "You?"

"I don't' really see the point in having a whole ceremony for it. I mean, hasn't it occurred to them to just give us our diplomas on the last day of class. It would save some time."

"I guess it's a tradition."

"I've never been good with those sorts of things."

"How hard can it be?"

"I guess I just hate going through the motions. It's too tedious for me. Get what I'm saying?" He asked.

"I think so."

"How do those people do it? Going through the motions year after year?"

"You got me."

But he did know how to go through the motions. Year after year and week after week. He had seen it time and time again, rehearsed to perfection by his mother and sister. By himself. As he tried to live out the institution and the traditions of a family that had all but fallen apart.

Standing outside of the kitchen door at one in the morning, fresh from a night with friends he didn't want to forget, he should have known everything falls apart sometime.

When he opened the door an acrid smell assaulted his nostrils.

His mother sat at the dinner table, inhaling cigarette after cigarette with only the sink light. The shadows masked her face. She looked exactly like those figures you found at one in the morning, a lone shadow crouched at a bar, receding into the obscurity of the night.

"Your sister moved out."

He didn't say anything. It wasn't something he could answer.

"Your father is also fooling around with some woman." She took a long drag. "Why did this happen to me?" She sighed. "I thought I married right and raised my children right. I did all the things I was supposed to do. I went through all the motions of being a good mother."

To Honda, it felt like everything had led up this moment. The fights, the joy, everything. Seeing his mother, he couldn't help but feel sorry for her, feel angry at her. All the emotions got mixed up inside of him and he was reminded why he had never interfered with her arguments in the first place. Because it was just too painful to come between two people you really loved and decide which was the better of them. Honda didn't want to choose. So he had lost both.

"Maybe life's not about going through the motions." He said instinctively, hoping to get through to her.

She glanced at him but he couldn't tell what expression she wore. Silence hovered over them as the flicker of red-orange burned on the cigarette.

"You're such a good boy Hiroto. Don't grow up."

She placed the cigarette into the ashtray and pushed it away from her. Then she sunk into herself like a student put to sleep by a boring lesson. By the time Honda had grabbed the blanket from the living room she was fast asleep.

He woke up that morning feeling something was missing. Maybe it was because, for the first time, the house was completely empty. No fighting, crying or laughing. Nothing.

In the kitchen there was still a half-full box of Jouji's animal crackers, a pot of day old coffee and the heavy smell of tobacco. He filled up a cup of the coffee and drank half of it, then munched on the animal crackers until his stomach was satisfied. It was the first day of the rest of his life and he had just filled up on a child's snack.

He stood in the doorway for a full forty seconds before deciding to take his bike out. It felt like he hadn't ridden it in ages.

It roared as he started it and though he had never driven his motorcycle to school there was probably very little anyone could do if he arrived with it. Really. He was graduating today after all.

But on the road, with so many thoughts going off in his head, he didn't feel like going to school. The world was before him and he didn't feel like wasting time at some ceremony and losing another minute of it.

He was about to accelerate and see where that took him when he noticed a familiar face walking on the side of the road.

"Hey." Otogi waved to him.

"Hey." He slowed down and pulled up beside the other.

"We're you going? Isn't school that way?" His friend indicated, pointing in the opposite direction.

"Yeah, I know. It's just…"

"Nobody going to see you graduate so why bother?"

"Something like that." He nodded. Then something hit him.

"Hey, hop on."

"Me?"

"Yeah."

"Why?"

"Nobody going to see you graduate… you were talking about yourself, weren't you?"

"Well, yeah. Who else did you think it was?" But he complied, seating himself and holding Honda for support. "So we're we going?"

"First, answer me one question. Is it possible for someone to not grow up?"

"This isn't some kind of trick, is it?"

"No. I was just wondering."

"Well, in that case, it's a matter of simple biology. You're going to grow whether you like it or not. Maybe not mentally but you'll physically grow and one thing'll lead to another and before you know it you've grown up with yourself."

"You're still talking about yourself, aren't you?"

"You got me. So where were you going?"

"An orchard, the beach, anywhere."

"Anywhere?"

"Yeah. That fine with you?"

"As long as I don't have to go to some stupid ceremony it's fine."

"Well then, hold on."

He could imagine his friends, his classmates. A few hours from now they would all be on the edge of their seats. Waiting to hold a flimsy piece of paper in their hands that was supposed to make all the sweet and sour moments worth it.

But he, his eyes were focused on the road ahead of him.

-

He was twenty and engrossed in Otogi's scent. It was a smell he couldn't place. Somewhat sour, somewhat sweet.

"Where do you want this box?" He asked his friend. Moving into a new apartment should have given him all the butterflies it did when he was twelve and moved to Domino. But it didn't. It was exciting. Especially since he was moving in with Otogi.

"Just anywhere is fine." Otogi dropped a box, a good two feet from the ground.

"Hey, watch it."

"Relax, it's probably just clothes or something."

"Sure it is," He replied sarcastically. Otogi elbowed him, which made him push back. Before he knew it, Honda was on the floor, holding a struggling Otogi in his arms.

"No fair. That was a lucky grab," Otogi accused him, which just made him laugh. The other took advantage of that, pinning Honda to the ground, but seeing as he wasn't about to fight anymore, rested his head on the other man's chest.

"I needed a break anyway," Otogi muttered.

He could feel every breath that Otogi took from where he lay. It was a feeling that reminded him of their graduation day, when they had been in the very same position after traveling for hours. That time they were exhausted and maybe just blowing off all the steam that their high school lives had given them. Now, he knew, they were just as exhausted but maybe just a little in love.

Honda got a good view from his position with his back to the floor. He could see the ceiling with its new paint and the room stacked with boxes. But mostly he could see a really empty place. A place waiting to be filled.

Something escaped his lips. Something he had been wanting to say for a long time.

"Home sweet home."

-

A/N: Ah. Honda centric fics are something not at all common and I can kind of see why now. However, I think, given that he was a constant character from the beginning until the end, there is a lot of information on him and even some quirks that are interesting to look into. Truth be told, I like the Toei characterization of Honda the most, but for this fic I blended everything I remember about him together and I'm still not sure what I ended up with. But then again I prefer him being the quirky and mysterious guy that he is.

Reviews would be really appreciated.


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